The steady increase in industrialization, urbanization and enormous population
growth are leading to production of huge quantities of wastewaters that may frequently
cause environmental hazards. Raw or treated waste water is very oft en discharged
to freshwaters and results in changing ecological performance and biological diversity
of these systems. About 70% of water supplied ends up as wastewater and several natural
water reservoirs are being contaminated by untreated sewage/industrial effl uents.
This makes waste water treatment and waste water reduction very important issues....

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying
or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally
to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the
copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing...

Wastes are materials generated as a result of numerous anthropic activities and should
be disposed to prevent environmental pollution which aff ects human health and contributes
ecosystem degradation. Most of the environmental problems, which we are
dealing with, are a result of improper management of wastes. In particular, fresh water
resources are under serious stress throughout the globe. Water supply and water quality
degradation are global concerns.

The amount of energy that
people used in the past two decades is equivalent to the total amount of energy in
the past. This huge increase of energy use has been made possible by extending
depletion of fossil reserves and is clearly unsustainable. Does it mean that once the
reserves are exhausted the amount of energy available to humans would be similar
before the era of fossil fuels? Not necessarily. Currently, the total energy used by mankind
No. 1/5500 fraction of the total incident solar energy on earth....

The quantum of wastes generated in urban centres has become one of the difficult
tasks for those responsible for their management. The problem is becoming acute
specially in economically developing countries, where there is a financial crunch, and
other resources are scarce.
Although, there are varieties of publications dealing with various topics of solid waste
management, most of these documents have been published addressing the needs of
developed nations.

Solid waste management is one of the important disciplines of environmental
management. It is divided into two parts, dealing with biodegradable and nonbiodegradable
waste. The segregation of waste in most developing countries is a
difficult task. This problem has a wide range of causes, including the lack of public
knowledge of the problem. Lack of funds plays a small but very vital role.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, industrial activities have been accompanied by a
problem: industrial waste. The commensurate increase in industrialization,
urbanization and population growth are leading to production of enormous quantities
of industrial wastes that may cause degradation in environment and health hazards.
On the other hand, the desire for a healthy environment increases, which leads to the
need for better ways of waste minimization, pollution prevention and better use of
resources in achieving the required industrial and environmental standards....

Pulp and paper is a mature industry. Industrialised paper manufacturing in Europe started
in the early 19th century (Berkhout, 2005). It is a capital and resource-intensive industry
that contributes to many environmental problems, including global warming, human tox-
icity, eco-toxicity, photochemical oxidation, acidification, nutrification, and solid wastes
(Blazejczak and Edler, 2000).
Paper is made of natural fibres, either from wood or from recycled materials. Figure 1
below presents a schematic representation of the production system.

In many developed nations, significant progress has been
made in reducing direct discharges of pollutants into water
bodies, primarily through increased treatment of industrial
wastewater before it is discharged. An OECD report found
that in member countries in the past several decades,
“industrial discharges of heavy metals and persistent
chemicals have been reduced by 70-to-90 percent or more
in most cases” (OECD 2006).

Engineered barriers to isolate potentially harmful waste
from humans and ecosystems have been used for over 35
years, and much has been written about them and their constituent
components. However, few reports have provided an
overall assessment of the performance of engineered barrier
systems. The last broad assessment was conducted in 1995
(Rumer and Mitchell, 1995). Since that time, new materials
and sensor technologies have been introduced and models to
predict contaminant transport have improved.

Physical units can be specific to the kind of resource
recorded (tonnes, cubic meters, hectares, number
of units) or common to a range of resources. In
this case, a unit-equivalent needs to be found. For
example, material flow accounts which are currently
the main basis for resource-efficiency analysis record
'everything' in tonnes. Another solution is to use
carbon or energy unit-equivalents, as in UNFCCC
reporting. The Ecological Footprint Accounts
propose surface area as a general unit-equivalent.
These solutions are obviously incomplete
(e.g.

Beneficiation (or concentration) processes are gener-
ally used to upgrade the phosphate content by
removing contaminants and barren material prior to
further processing. A few ores are of sufficiently high
quality to require no further concentration. The natu-
rally occurring impurities contained in phosphate
rock ore depend heavily on the type of deposit (sedi-
mentary or igneous), associated minerals, and the
extent of weathering. Major impurities can include
organic matter, clay and other fines, siliceous material,
carbonates, and iron bearing minerals.

In 1968 the NCRP Board of Directors, in an expansion of its internal
emitter effort, assigned to Scientific Committee 24 the task of examining
tritiated thymidine to determine whether the values for pennissible
body burdens and concentrations of tritium as tritiated water
given in NCRP Report No. 22 would be applicable. As the Committee
studied the problem, they decided it would be appropriate to examine
all radionuclides and additional compounds that have the potential for
incorporation into genetic material....

Sustainability in natural systems is built on the closed-end process of recycling materials. Our present society produces so much that is not recyclable, like resin-molded chairs and air polluting automobile tires, that it is necessary to apply intention to source reduction and product responsibility. Chapter 18 provides knowledge of municipal solid waste and how to disposal and recovery.

An inventory of all the chemicals including pharmaceuticals was made and a special task
force was formed to advise the government on proper disposal system. Many donors were
approached to provide financial assistance for the disposal but the response was until 1995
when the Netherlands government offered 1.5 million USD for the whole exercise which
involved repacking, recollection in special centers and finally to remove the chemicals
including pharmaceuticals to be incinerated in the UK. Rechem Company was contracted
to do the job and 400 tons were removed in 1995.

Determination of periodontal diagnosis and the extent and severity of periodontal tissue
damage through standard periodontal assessment has traditionally been based on an array
of clinical measurements, including probing depth (PD), clinical attachment level (CAL),
bleeding on probing (BOP), plaque index (PI) and radiographic findings.

This book aspires to be a comprehensive summary of current biofuels issues and thereby contribute to the understanding of this important topic. Readers will find themes including biofuels development efforts, their implications for the food industry, current and future biofuels crops, the successful Brazilian ethanol program, insights of the first, second, third and fourth biofuel generations, advanced biofuel production techniques, related waste treatment, emissions and environmental impacts, water consumption, produced allergens and toxins....